Summer is an exciting time!
After a year of slogging to school and work, shoveling snow and crawling out of bed before dawn to go to work we all look forward to long sunny days, bucolic evenings on the front porch with neighbours and especially VACATIONS!
But in all the excitement of planning our trips, digging out tents, sleeping bags, coolers and those goofy fishing hats we need to remember that there is another group of people out there even more excited about our vacations than we are!
Police departments across Canada are noticing that more and more thieves are turning to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter for information about potential victims! In fact it's now routine for police officers to ask robbery victims what information they put on Facebook and Twitter before the crime and if their online connections are true friends or potential suspects, according to Cpl. Janice Jean of the Saanich Police Dept..
"We have this entire new world of opportunities for people to break into houses," warns Cpl. Jean.
It starts off as simply as the thief joining a popular group or 'liking' a local page on Facebook. Scanning the discussion the thief can quickly ascertain what activities group members have planned. Then the thief requests to be the friend of their targeted victim.
Which brings us back to something I have been 'harping' on for a number of months about social networking sites.
Social networking sites, like Facebook, are meant to connect people, friends mostly, and yet many of the people I discuss Facebook with seem more concerned with the numbers game – how many friends they have listed in the sidebar. Recent studies have shown that the maximum number of 'friends' you can carry on effective conversations with on Facebook is about 155! Above that number, the experts say, it is almost impossible to keep up with all the threads of conversations happening, especially this time of year when people have more time for chitty-chat!
And since this is a numbers game, every 'friend' you have on Facebook could represent someone looking to make off with your family heirlooms while you are basking in the sun at the beach.
Now don't get me wrong! Facebook is an excellent social networking platform for announcing events, passing information and just plain fun. But what we say on Facebook may have ramifications beyond what we might say to our neighbour on the front porch!
A quick check of Facebook this morning and I found of the first 10 entries on my home page, 4 were discussing upcoming vacations, 2 with the day and time they were leaving and 3 people had posted they 'like' multiple pages. All this in under 5 minutes! Nice pickings if we had a thief in the area!
Summer is an exciting time and we DEFINITELY want to see your vacation pictures and hear all about your trip…
Just tell us AFTER you get back!
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Sources: CBCNews
